“Looks like it,” he said, catching his breath as he straightened himself up before taking off in a dash the moment the flames settled, “Back me up, Yeong-Un!”

It didn’t even have to be said; Yeong-Un smiled at this turn of events, smacking his two blades together, “Hell yeah!”

Using his nimbleness as an assassin, he used a [Blink Step] to appear on the large, towering arm of the pale beast, running up its length as if traversing a living, moving bridge with his daggers in hand.

Its crimson, malicious eyes tracked him as it attempted to move its arm to lose him, but he moved too fast, making his way to its shoulder before slashing his blades against its hide.

“Ripper!”

An onslaught of slashes stretched across the broad, armored shoulder of the morphed beast, causing it to write in pain momentarily while the assault persisted.

Through the usage of “Sage System”, he no longer received constant updates from the system on each and every loss of spirit, but instead innately knew his own status. The only times in which prompts appeared for such things is when his amount reached a critical low.

“Nice on!” Yeong-Un complimented, meeting him on the battlefield as he rushed forward with a dash that seemed to break the sound barrier.

Before the alligator could turn its head back to snatch the red-haired young man in its jaws, the dual spellblade, who grinned with a love for battle, swiped his element-infused swords against its chest, causing its attempted retaliation to halt.

We can do this! He thought.

–Just as he thought as such, confident after seeing the damage he inflicted with [Ripper], managing to tear through scale and flesh completely–that hope faded.

The reddened, bleeding flesh of the alligator’s shoulder intertwined, extending strings of matter together before the wound mended itself within moments._.

It…healed? He thought.

“Yeong-Un, this thing…!” He began to yell out.

“–Yeah, I see it too! This damn thing can regenerate!” Yeong-Un called out.

Before they could make their next move, the colossal alligator suddenly sprouted an unexpected thrashing of its body, causing his balance to be shaken and Yeong-Un’s next attack to be halted as he jumped back.

It slammed each of its four legs downward repeatedly, causing the entirety of the sewage domain to tremble under its weight, repeatedly bashing its tail downward and side-to-side, slamming into the walls.

It’s flailing around…!? To force me off?! He thought.

Though it seemed like nothing more than a tantrum, it was in fact a scary demonstration of intelligence from the presumably mindless beast as he was forced to jump away amidst its thrashing, ducking and rolling as he intended to rendezvous with his companion.

“Fire-head–!”

An unusual desperation coated the words thrown from Yeong-Un’s lips, prompting him to look forward as the man he was running towards in confusion.

What’s got him so scared–? He thought.

It wasn’t just desperation; something embedded a look of fear and dread into the heterochromic, blue-and-gold eyes of the man.

He looked back in that moment that felt as if time was beginning to crawl to a slow, witnessing a peculiar action taken from the alligator: it wasn’t rushing towards them, or swinging its tail, but instead planted firmly down against the ground, stretching its jaws open as far and wide as possible while a light formed in its mouth.

It was thanks to his altered perception of time with the usage of his “Sage System” that allowed him to see it, but that slowed perception didn’t make his body move any quicker.

Oh, shit–He thought.

“Dammit…!”

The strained yell came from the wild-haired, scar-covered adolescent, who used his blinding speed to appear between his companion and the glowing maw of the beast.

“Wha–?” He looked on in surprise, seeing Yeong-Un appear in front of him at a speed faster than he could blink or perceive.

Just then, a massive release of prismatic energy unleashed from the bowels of the alligator, sending outwards like an unrefined blast that tunneled towards them.

“–Divert and Disperse: Rock-Solid Mountain Bisection!”

Yeong-Un spoke through an intense, collected tone as he crossed his blades, stomping one boot downwards as he stepped forward, facing the color-shifting breath of destruction as its heated winds caused his wild hair to brush in its arrival.

He couldn’t do anything to help, only just barely being able to perceive what was happening thanks to his unique system.

“Yeong-Un!” He called out.

As he reached out towards the back of his companion, it was too late–the energy reached their position, but just as it did–he slashed his dual-wielded blades with utmost precision and patience.

Straight through the middle of the swirling, chaotic gathering of energy, the perfectly-launched slashes merged and intertwined into immutable stratifications of wind, parting the beam of energy.

“Huh–?”

He was left speechless as the colossal spiral of energy that was certainly going to hit them instead was split, being branched off into separate directions away from them.

Yeong-Un held both blades spread out after having unleashed the singular slash, unleashing a steady exhale through his pursed lips.

“I did it,” the scar-faced man celebrated calmly, sweating visibly as if hardly believing his efforts came to fruition.

Even though they avoided the main brunt of the blast, a following shock wave took them both by surprise, knocking them back with an abrasive force that flung them against the farthest walls of the repugnant chamber.

“Ghh…!” He winced.

“Grhh–!” Yeong-Un branched himself.

[Health Points: -1100. Remaining Health Points: 2000/3100]

The insane loss of health took him by surprise, but he soon realized just how much damage it was as he slumped over on the ground with ringing ears and swaying vision, spitting up blood as he felt it leak from his ears, nose, and mouth.

What the hell–? What is this thing? This isn’t right, he thought.

Yeong-Un was hardly in better condition, his uniform torn and tattered as his coat was gone in its entirety, leaving just his mesh, fishnet shirt as scratches were left all over his body while he hacked up blood.

“Fire-head…! Ya’ okay…?!”

Though he spoke, his words could hardly be perceived as he had to rely on mainly reading his ally’s lips.

“Okay…?”

You should be worrying about yourself, idiot…He thought weakly.

Things had gone from bad to worse in a singular action; that was the nature of “Armageddon Game” and why most people died immediately, or became so fearful of the game that they refused to even try leveling up in the first place.

The colossal, snow-white alligator with crooked, endless teeth began to step towards them, each step causing a tremor to traverse through the floor as he tried his best to compose himself, but his body was adverse to such efforts.

“Fire-head, get up…! It’s not over–!” Yeong-Un yelled out, crawling towards him as he was bleeding from his nose, ears, and mouth just the same.

Huh? I can’t hear you, he thought.

They both froze though as a blinding radiance caused them to shield their eyes momentarily, looking past the light to witness another coalescence of energy within the beast’s jaws.

“Shit…! I’m gonna have to use everything–right here, right now…!” Yeong-Un spat out the blood from his mouth, somehow managing to stand with his quivering legs and thwarted sense of balance.

He wasn’t able to say the same, only managing to hardly stay upright as he could still feel the effects of the shock wave ringing within the marrow of his bones.

“Come on! Bring it on–!” Yeong-Un coaxed the beast, spreading his arms out with bravado, holding his blades high with teeth painted in his own crimson essence.

It seemed his taunts shifted the beasts’ intent, causing it to attack him whilst charging its mouth-blast, swiping at him, stomping its arms, and spinning around to use its massive tail as a weapon.

“Gghh…! Is that all ya’ got?!” He taunted, spitting out blood from his mouth as he countered with his dual-wielded blades.

The only explanation he could find in his swaying consciousness for the unexpected toughness of the monster is that it wa some sort of anomalous existence; a one-time enemy that existed as an unregistered “BOSS” type, and given it’s level that was dreadfully higher than theirs, where each level counted like the world–it seemed unbeatable.

Even a repeated combination of flame-blasts and bolts flung from the edge of his blade didn’t do much to stop the pale-scaled titan of an alligator as it beat him down, repeatedly knocking him away before it opened its maw again, revealing the bubbling energy.

“…Stop…idiot…!” He reached out, trying to stop his companion, but he could hardly enunciate his words through his strained throat, only coughing up more blood.

With unexpected speed, releasing much faster than before, the spiraling, flashing breath of destructive force unleashed from the mouth of the giant beast.

Just as the spiky-haired, injured man took his stand, attempting to to counter the released energy with the same skill as before–he fell, his own legs giving out beneath him.

–Crap, I didn’t realize how shit condition my body was in–! Yeong-Un thought.

“Yeong-Un…!” He yelled out again, managing to pick himself up to one knee.